Copper Scroll

The Copper Scroll (3Q15) is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran, but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment or papyrus, this scroll is written on metal: copper mixed with about 1% tin. Unlike the others, it is not a literary work, but a list of locations at which various items of gold and silver are buried or hidden. It differs from the other scrolls in its Hebrew (closer to the language of the Mishnah than to the literary Hebrew of the other scrolls, though 4QMMT shares some language characteristics), its orthography (i.e., its spelling), palaeography (forms of letters) and date (c.50-100 AD, possibly overlapping the latest of the other Qumran manuscripts).

Since 2013, the Copper Scroll has been on display at the newly opened Jordan Museum] in Amman after being moved from its previous home, the Jordan Archaeological Museum.